 "Narendra Modi")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday gave a pep talk to his council of ministers, asking them to stay away from all controversies.
On a day when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal traded charges about corruption in the DDCA during Jaitley's tenure in the body, the PM invited the council of ministers to his residence for dinner to tell them they should take the message of development to the people and avoid getting involved in controversies.
The PM told the ministers the government had nothing to be defensive about. But ministers saw in his statements a way of warning colleagues not to raise issues the opposition could use against the government. This included issues on religion, the rebuilding of temples, caste, reservations and the like which have, in the recent past, cost the government politically.
The PM met ministers when the winter session of Parliament was, at least in the Rajya Sabha, heading towards a washout, with the goods and services tax (GST) constitutional amendment Bill buried for this session.
A minister said it was the PM who did most of the talking.
Modi is to go to Gujarat on Friday to spend a night with Inspectors General of Police at the India-Pakistan border in Kutch.
